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That’s why some activists are weighing the possibility of protesting outside the convention, said Anthony Shreeve of Dandridge, Tenn. Shreeve is a former Tea Party Nation member who resigned from the convention steering committee in a dispute with Phillips over finances. “It would really look bad for tea parties to be out there protesting the tea party,” said Shreeve.

But that wasn’t the impression Hemrick left with several tea party activists on a mid-November conference call, when in the midst of arguing how important money was to a successful convention and broader political movement, Hemrick mentioned that he intended to pitch Palin on a business venture he and some partners were developing.

“For all of us who were on this call, it was a news flash,” said Tami Kilmarx, who was active in Tea Party Nation and convention planning until a dispute over secrecy and control with Phillips and his wife and business partner, Sherry Phillips. “We realized (Hemrick) had his own designs, which are not in line with what this grassroots movement was all about."

Hemrick said the venture, an automotive safety device he was seeking to get mandated by state or federal governments, is on hold for now and that his comment was being “blown out of proportion. I made a simple little statement that if I meet Sarah Palin, I’m going to talk to her about his thing we got. But now, that subject won’t be raised if I meet Sarah Palin.”